Could a few of you E-Trac guys try this?

[Drdepth]

I've been lurking for a while and decided to switch to a E-Trac and love it. I found a few silver first trip out to a old trashy fairgrounds where I could not find a thing with my DFX. But I have noticed one thing that to me may be a dysfunction of the machine which is less than one week old. Place on the ground a penny and a nickel about 8 to 10 inches apart. Now wave the detector back and forth over one of these targets until you get both your audio signal and VDI #s, then move directly over to the second target and wave the coil over it and listen to the changed audio signal does your VDI # change also? I realize the VDI is slower than the audio but as long as I continue to sweep back and forth over the second target the Vdi # will not change to correspond to the second target it is still stuck on the first target #. It will only show the new target VDI after you stop moving the coil or move away from any target. Basically as long as there is a continued audio signal{ does not go back to threshold} the # will not change. This is terrible in a very trashy site where there are multiple close targets. I know the VDI #s are not reliable but I would like to watch the bounce of the cursor which does not move either. So basically even thou I'm getting a totally different audio signal the VDI # will not change until I stop moving the coil on the target. That just does not seem right. At the fairgrounds I had to raise the coil away from the last target to see its VDI. I think there is a problem. Could a few of you try this and let me know what happens. I called Minelab support and they didn't seem to know what I was talking about.

Thanks Joe

 

[Crash620]

Sounds to me like you may be sweeping a bit too fast. FBS loves a slooow swing...... In the field, you are not going to be looking at the screen anyway. When your ears tell you there is something else good hiding in the dirt, just refine your swing and the numbers you seek will appear....

 

[MT]

What you are experiencing is completely normal. The numbers won't appear till the threshold comes back. I don't pay any attention to numbers, I go strictly by sound.
HH,
MT

 

[sharpshooter]

MT nailed it down for you.

VDI numbers will not change until threshold returns.

When I'm hunting in a very trashy area the machine stays in a null; at this point I'm hunting by audio only.

It's normal.

 

[Drdepth]

Thanks for the quick replies everyone. I've been using audio only 99% of the time, just like to watch for vdi bounce to help with iron. That might not be the right thing to do but I'm still learning. I think pulling silver out of a 100 plus year old fairgrounds that is still being used is pretty good for the first hunt. I can't wait to see what I can do with more hours digging. Having trouble with telling clad vs silver but I hope that will get better. I have been using the depth to help decide when to dig.
Joe

 

[JohnnyI]

Thanks for asking this question, as I too was wondering about it. Maybe someone more experienced with the e-trac than me can confirm this for me or tell me it's in my imagination, but I've found that in my extremely trashy iron infested ground, when I detect using the bare minimum of iron rejection (I blank the bottom three lines now, 33 down, and use ferrous mode) then I seem to get a faster and more accurate return on the numbers. Does this seem right?.

 

[Nick A]

Yep, normal. If I have two targets next to each other I just dig the one that pinpoints best to get it out of the way, then dig the other one. You can also isolate targets by sweeping at 90 degrees, but with shallow targets this can be tricky, faster just to dig it.

 

[pro778]

I tried to find out about this when I got my E-Trac 9 months ago. I only got a couple responses that knew what I was talking about. I emailed Minelab and they sent me a reply saying I just had to learn the detector. I emailed them back twice and never received another reply. So I called them.They acted like they didn't know what I was talking about, but said send it back and they would look at it. I didn't want to go through the time and expense of sending it back and not having it fixed, so I just live with it. For the money this detector cost, I think this is a major bug in the software. I hunt sites that have a lot of old cut nails that give a good sound (multi conductive) and it really pi$$es me off that I have to spend so much time trying to figure out what's under the coil. I think this is one of the worst detector's I've used! But, It's the best detector out there. I've made some great finds with it. I think it will out hunt every other detector. What I do is, if I think I have a good target I'll raise the coil straight up and get a null and then try to come back down over the target and see if I can get good numbers. Also I think if you go with the big numbers they will change faster. I think it's a shame you spend all this money on a detector and have to hunt by sound only. I won't give it up though, unless something better comes along.

 

[Drdepth]

Thanks Nick,

But pinpointing the target is not a problem. Where I have been hunting it is littered with targets so digging adjacent targets would take all day. When I isolate a good audio I can usually pinpoint it OK. Like I said I cant get a VDI number on the target even though I am slowly sweeping back in forth over the target. If I lift the coil straight up away to stop the audio or stop the coil it will give me the vdi #. PLEASE give it a try and let me know what happens. Place a nickel and a dime 8-10 inches apart then start with one target, get your audio and VDI # then move over to the next target. You don't need to do this fast just quick enough so the threshold does not start again. Does the VDI # change? I could SLOWLY sweep the second target for several minutes and it will not change until I lift the coil up in the air or totally stop moving the coil.. PLEASE give it a try. There are periods where this does not occur so this makes me think this is not normal behavior. I did not notice this the first few days I used the machine. I can get use to just stopping the coil over the target to see the VDI # but I still cant watch for the cursor bounce like many describe { ex. Indian Head cents on Explorer SE}

Joe

 

[Drdepth]

Pro778

What do you mean by big numbers and it will change faster?

Joe

 

[mikezap]

I tried to find out about this when I got my E-Trac 9 months ago. I only got a couple responses that knew what I was talking about. I emailed Minelab and they sent me a reply saying I just had to learn the detector. I emailed them back twice and never received another reply. So I called them.They acted like they didn't know what I was talking about, but said send it back and they would look at it. I didn't want to go through the time and expense of sending it back and not having it fixed, so I just live with it. For the money this detector cost, I think this is a major bug in the software. I hunt sites that have a lot of old cut nails that give a good sound (multi conductive) and it really pi$$es me off that I have to spend so much time trying to figure out what's under the coil. I think this is one of the worst detector's I've used! But, It's the best detector out there. I've made some great finds with it. I think it will out hunt every other detector. What I do is, if I think I have a good target I'll raise the coil straight up and get a null and then try to come back down over the target and see if I can get good numbers. Also I think if you go with the big numbers they will change faster. I think it's a shame you spend all this money on a detector and have to hunt by sound only. I won't give it up though, unless something better comes along.

I personally believe one machine will not find everything there is to find in one area. I have an etrac on the way, and i also run a teknetics t2. I know the quick quick recovery of the t2 is going to find me stuff the etrac wont, and i also know the etrac will give a good id on stuff that i wouldnt normally dig with the t2. Im buying the etrac and keeping the t2 so they can "compliment" each other, and hopefully by having 2 machines they can overcome the inherent weakness in each other and make for one super detector

 

[pro778]

Drdepth - instead of having the numbers on top of the smart find screen, you hit the detect button and they go into the smart find screen and are big.
Mikezap - I don't know what you hunt, unless your just coin shooting, when you get the E-trac and learn how to use it, you won't want that T2 anymore. No comparison

 

[Ray-Mo.]

It is very simple to solve your so-called problem and the answer is in your post.When you get to the second target you just stop moving the coil directly over it for about one second and bingo you now have the correct ID # to go with audio tone and identifies your second target.Now if the one second is to long for some they are in a bigger hurry than I and I am a "fast as machine will handle type hunter".It must be that the audio signal trumps the vdi as it should and the proccesor needs a near one second break for the digital to update.I do not know why but it has never been a problem for me once I was aware of it,Ray.

 

[jbow]

The Minelabs, E-TRAC included, will tell you that a 1" rusty square nail. I haven't found a way around it. A full length square nail will sound good but will usually give a double beep from one direction.. those cut or broken pieces... pfffft they are a problem.

The best solution I have found at a site like that is a Tejon with a 5.75 DD coil. It will pretty much ignore them and hit hard on small brass. I don't think there is a better detector in iron infested sites that the Tejon w/small coil.

I have a site full of those things and have hunted it with a SovereignGT, F75, T2, SE, E-TRAC, and Tejon. They all made finds. The SovGT is the worst at telling you iron is a good target. Tejon is the best at ignoring the iron. Next week i'll get to hunt it with a V-3 and compare the targets using both the V- 3 and the E-TRAC.

J

 

[pro778]

I don't want to offend anybody, but some of your advice is wrong. I guess there's only a few people having this problem. It's not that the numbers are slow updating, they won't update until you get a null or hit another object. The longer the detector is on the worse it gets. I can have a 12-6 on the screen from a piece of foil and get a high tone and scan it for 2 minutes getting a high tone but the display stays on 12-6. Then you lift the coil in the air and 12-45 will show on the screen while your getting a null sound. I haven't been able to find any setting that will fix it. I just live with it and have to take a lot of extra time trying to figure out if it's a nail or coin. It only seems to do it where there are a lot of targets. It doesn't do it at the beach or tot lots.

 

[ken-ks]

I'm with Ray, it's not a problem for me either, I go by sound, if the ID numbers is stuck on 12-03 and I get a high pitch, I'm diggin the high pitch if it's repeatable in several directions. What I notice is the meter sticking is more of a shallow targets thing. I'm getting to where I know the pitches in multi tone so when I get the tones I want I go, for it, doesn't matter what the depth is or what the FE numbers are, as long as iron is blancked out up to FE25. It's not allways a coin, but I got a bucket for copper, one for brass, one for lead, I even am digging the crushed pop & beer cans, got a trash can full of them. I gotta pay for this etrac some way so if it's with corrioded pennys and other stuff then so be it...maybe I'm in the salvage bussiness, lol. ken-ks

 

[Drdepth]

Pro778,

Sounds like we both have the same problem. I can live with it because audio is the way to go. I just like things to work right. Especially for the price. Stopping the sweep on the target is the quickest way to get the VDI.
Joe

 

[wildherre]

What you are describing is normal, its the way they work, the way Explorers have always worked.. We all do what is necessary to update the VDI as needed, moving the coil off to the side of the target or raising the coil in the air if dealing with multiple targets. The VDI simply does not update until the threshold returns.. Running the sensitivity to high to where the threshold is not returning or using too big of a coil for conditions aggravates the situation.
Lower your sensitivity if using manual or simply use auto
Use a smaller coil
Move the coil off to the side or up in the air to get the threshold back as necessary. wildherre